Women's Lacrosse | April 14, 2016

PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle women's lacrosse team welcomes George Mason to McCarthy Stadium on Friday before traveling to league-leading UMass on Sunday.   
 
La Salle Explorers (4-7, 2-2 A-10) vs. George Mason Patriots (8-3, 3-1 A-10)
Friday, April 15 | 6:00 PM
Live Stream | Live Stats
 
La Salle Explorers (4-7, 2-2 A-10) at No. 19 UMass Minutewomen (11-1, 4-0 A-10)
Sunday, April 17 | 1:00 PM
Live Stream | Live Stats
 
Scouting the Explorers

La Salle split a pair of games last weekend grabbing a 14-4 win over St. Bonaventure and falling 5-11 to St. Joes. The Explorers enter the weekend tied for fifth place in the conference at 2-2.

Katelyn Fay ranks third in the conference as she is averaging 3.50 goals per contest against A-10 opponents.   

Freshman Sarah Gallagher has stepped in and made three straight starts in goal for the Explorers going 2-1. She ranks second in the league and top among regular keepers with a 6.67 goals against average and is third in save percentage at .545.  

Ilgenfritz is second on the team with 20 goals on the year. She is tied for the team lead with seven assists on the season. Sophomore Brittany Edwards has added 18 goals with seven assists to aid the offensive output.
 
Senior Allie Burnett leads the team with 13 caused turnovers on the year while sophomore Rachel Ceplo has added ten of her own. Seniors Anna Kelly, Kerry Newby, and Abby O'Donnell are all tied for the team lead with 16 ground balls on the season.   

La Salle-George Mason History

This is just the third ever meeting between the two programs and the first ever at McCarthy Stadium. The teams split the previous two matchups with La Salle grabbing the inaugural meeting in 2014, 13-4, while the Patriots snagged a 12-9 win last season. Senior Katelyn Fay has had success against Mason scoring four goals in each of the previous meetings to go along with a pair of assists. Allee Ilgenfritz scored four goals in the 2014 matchup while Rachel Ceplo and Anna Kelly each have one goal to their names in the prior meetings.

Scouting the Patriots

George Mason enters the weekend tied for second in the A-10 with a 3-1 record through four conference games. The Patriots have wins over George Washington (10-4), Richmond (9-8) and Davidson (8-7) while falling 13-9 to UMass.
 
Freshman Chachi Kelehan scored five goals over two games last weekend in route to earning A-10 Rookie of the Week honors.   

The Patriots are tied for second in the A-10, behind only La Salle, in goals against average against conference foes. Mason has allowed only 8.0 goals per contest against them through four conference games. They also rank second in team save percentage at .529 in conference play.   

Elizabeth Benedetto ranks fourth in the conference in save percentage at .529 in conference play.
 
Chachi Kelehan and Jacquelyn Spalding are tied for the team lead with 25 goals on the season. Alexia McGovern also has had a big hand in the offensive output with 22 goals through 11 games.
Four patriots were high school teammates of La Salle players. Freshman Leela Kimbler and sophomore Kristin Morgan of Mason both played at Saints Peter & Paul in southern Maryland. Sophomore Lucy Loughlin and junior Brooke Lorber teamed at Bel Air High School. Seniors Abby O'Donnell teamed up in soccer and lacrosse at Queen Anne's County and led them to the 2012 State Finals. And seniors Katelyn Fay and Erin Anderson both attended Henderson High school in West Chester.
 
Scouting the Minutewomen

Massachusetts come into the weekend ranked 19^th in the nation with an 11-1 record and a perfect 4-0 mark in the A-10. The sole loss came at No. 14 Boston College and the Minutewomen have grabbed conference wins over Saint Joseph's, Duquesne, George Mason, and George Washington. UMass welcomes St. Bonaventure on Friday before hosting La Salle on Sunday.
 
UMass leads the conference in offensive output averaging 14.50 goals per game against A-10 foes.   

Nicole Troost leads the A-10 in goals per game at 4.75 per contest against conference opponents. The Minutewomen also have three of the top five in points per game with Erika Eipp first at 5.25, Troost second at 5.00 and Holly Turner tied for fifth at 3.50.  

Massachusetts has split action in the goal between Sam Walters and Aileen Kelly. Walters is teid for fourth in goals against average at 7.00.
 
Next Up

La Salle closes out its road schedule with trips to George Washington and Richmond next weekend before closing out the regular season by hosting Duquesne on April 30.